CFD simulation of turbulent aerodynamics of a hummingbird wing for gliding micro-UAVs

Bio-inspired wing geometries provide a promising pathway for enhancing the aerodynamic efficiency of micro–air vehicles (MAVs), particularly in low-Reynolds-number flight regimes. This study presents a detailed computational analysis of turbulent airflow over a hummingbird-inspired wing operating in gliding conditions, focusing on the aerodynamic mechanisms essential for micro-UAV design. A simplified, biologically motivated wing planform—preserving the characteristic aspect ratio and chord distribution while omitting feather-level complexity—is modelled to isolate the dominant flow physics. Numerical simulations are performed using ANSYS FLUENT with the k–ε turbulence model to evaluate lift, drag, pressure distribution, and flow topology across inlet velocities of ۵, ۱۰, and ۱۵ m/s. The results show that the hummingbird-based wing maintains stable aerodynamic performance under all flow conditions, with lift increasing steadily with velocity and peaking at ۱۵ m/s, accompanied by the expected drag augmentation. Pressure and velocity fields confirm the formation of biologically consistent high-pressure regions beneath the wing and low-pressure zones above it, intensifying with increasing speed. A comparative assessment of full-wing and symmetry-based half-wing simulations demonstrates that the latter accurately reproduces aerodynamic trends while substantially reducing computational cost. The findings offer actionable insights into the development of efficient gliding micro-UAVs inspired by natural flyers and establish a foundation for future research in flapping-wing aerodynamics and aeroelastic fluid–structure interaction (FSI).

Keywords:

Bio-inspired aerodynamics , Micro air vehicles (MAVs) , Gliding flight , Low-Reynolds-number aerodynamics , Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)